Linda

I don’t like to talk about myself. Some people find comfort in knowing who your people are (where you were born, who’s your family, where you study/work, where you live), but I find it all distracts from what is really essential, which is who you are as a person. I don’t care much for labels, they take away from how you feel you live your life. I don’t particularly care what box people put me in, I don’t truly belong to any single box, but if that comforts them, I don’t correct them. If they really want to get to know me, they will, but I’m not an open book; they’ll have to earn my trust and do the hard work!

When I was young I wanted to have everything I have right now, so I can really say I’ve made it! I always thought I’d be a writer, though, but I never really got into it, and I feel the ship has sailed now, so that’s one thing I didn’t get to do… yet. I am always telling stories, and sometimes they feel more real to me than life! I am quite detached from everyone, including those I love, because I don’t want to intrude, I don’t like to upset people, so I stay out of everyone’s business, just as I like for others to stay out of mine. I’m happy to talk with people who ask for my opinion, but I’d never volunteer it, and even then, I try to be as impartial as I can be.

What really surprised me was how much I loved being a mom. Everybody warned me it would be so incredibly hard, that my life would be over, and I’d be completely inexorably attached to this new, needy creature. But honestly, I can’t think of a more joyous time in my life, than when I had my kids. I simply adored being a mother. I was expecting it to be grueling work, but even though it wasn’t easy, I didn’t mind, I relished every minute of it!

My greatest challenge right now is finding a new cause. I do enjoy my freedom now, though. I can go out with my friends, I travel quite a bit, I get to do the occasional thing for my friends, neighbors and family. Nothing fixed, just a bunch of little things now and again. Maybe that’s what life is about: the little things, done with heart.

Friends to me are people who pick you up, not put you down, people who understand you, and your needs, and respect them.

I guess because I’m so hard to read, many people are put off by me. I can’t stand nonsense, and I don’t like to waste time. If you want to get things done, you have to do it seriously, with gusto, or let it be, life’s too short for half-attempts. As they say: do it right, or don’t do it at all. I used to have long-drawn conversations, or debates, maybe, with all the different religious proselytes that would go door to door trying to convert people. I was curious to know what they had to offer. But it’s always the same old thing, why should I change my religion, if I’m just going to get more of the same? Might as well stay where I am! Maybe that’s why I never got into writing, I’m not sure I’d have anything new to say. But life’s like that: little ordinary occurrences, that you’re there to witness and participate in, it doesn’t have to be huge, just meaningful.

The ideal situation would be to be able to spend six months in Canada and six months in Switzerland every year, so I’d get the best of both worlds, all the time!

I wish people would consume less, buy less, throw away less. It’s such a waste, nobody appreciates anything any more, because everything is disposable. So much has lost its value. We used to be so happy to get a candy, now… it’s ridiculous. It really is! Every little holiday is an excuse to add to the garbage piles. So much is packaged… imported… it’s so unnecessary, so counterintuitive. If we all put up with a bit less stuff and cared more about living relationships, I think we’d be heading in a better direction.